The Birdy Bug Pod

We've done coffee, now we are tackling tea! The second most consumed drink after water, this week we are delving into the sustainability of tea. So, grab a cuppa and join us as we learn what tea really is, whether there are environmental issues with its production, and of course, what we can do to reduce the impact of our tea habits.

Contact

Please do feel free to get in touch with us if you have any questions, feedback, comments, or just want to say hi! The easiest way is to ping us a message on Instagram:

Steve - @a.bird.in.the.lens,

Matthew - @a.bug.in.the.lens

Links

Tackling climate change and deforestation in tea communities - Ethical Tea Partnership : Ethical Tea Partnership

Cultivation, Improvement, and Environmental Impacts of Tea | Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Environmental Science

What's the carbon footprint of ... a cup of tea or coffee? | Environment | The Guardian

The environmental impact of tea - Green Living Tips

How Sustainable is Tea? | Forage and Sustain

Zero Waste Tea Brands for a Plastic-Free Brew - Zero Waste Memoirs

The top 5 best five plastic-free and sustainable tea brands | Psychologies

Water voles were once common across the UK, however their populations have plummeted by 97% since the 1970s. As our fastest declining mammal, they are now a rare sight.

Grab a coffee and settle in as we look at what happened to our water voles to cause such a dramatic decline. Of course, we also shine some light on the incredible work being done to help bring their numbers back up!

Contact

Please do feel free to get in touch with us if you have any questions, feedback, comments, or just want to say hi!The easiest way is to ping us a message on Instagram:

Steve - @a.bird.in.the.lens,

Matthew - @a.bug.in.the.lens

Links

Water voles | The Wildlife Trusts

Species – Water Vole – The Mammal Society

Water voles | NatureScot

New report points to 30% decline in water vole distribution | The Wildlife Trusts

Water vole - People's Trust for Endangered Species (ptes.org)

Endangered water voles to be reintroduced to London | Natural History Museum (nhm.ac.uk)

The UK's fastest declining mammal brought back to the River Ver, Hertfordshire | Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust (hertswildlifetrust.org.uk)

Restoring Ratty’ water vole project wins prestigious conservation award | Forestry England

This episode we are chatting all things seagrass! Sometimes called "the most important habitat that no one has heard of" we wanted to shine some light on this incredible plant.

So, grab a coffee and join us as we learn about what makes seagrass so incredible both ecologically and environmentally, why we have lost 90% of our seagrass meadows in the UK, and what is being done to restore this remarkable habitat!

Quick edit The book by Sophie Pavelle is called 'Forget me not - finding the forgotten species of climate change Britain' I got the title mixed up with Chris Packam and Megan McCubbin's book.

Contact

Please do feel free to get in touch with us if you have any questions, feedback, comments, or just want to say hi! The easiest way is to ping us a message on Instagram:

Steve - @a.bird.in.the.lens,

Matthew - @a.bug.in.the.lens

Links

Project Seagrass | Advancing the conservation of seagrass through education, influence, research and action

'Catastrophic': UK has lost 90% of seagrass meadows, study finds | Coastlines | The Guardian

The UK's biggest seagrass restoration project - Swansea University

Seagrass | The Wildlife Trusts

Our little podcast has made it to 10 episodes! To mark the occasion, we have an episode filled with all manner of things centered around the number 10. From 10 facts about ourselves to 10 conservation/environmental goals we would like to see happen in the next 10 years. From 10 interesting bird/bug facts to 10 places we would like to visit for wildlife. We even have quiz questions for which we have 10 seconds to answer, sprinkled throughout!

So grab a coffee and join us for this light-hearted, at times serious and at times daft, episode. This was a particularly fun one to make, so we hope you enjoy listening!

Contact

Please do feel free to get in touch with us if you have any questions, feedback, comments, or just want to say hi! We'd love to hear how you got on with the quiz questions (and yes Matthew brought much meaner ones for Steve). The easiest way is to ping us a message on Instagram:

Steve - @a.bird.in.the.lens,

Matthew - @a.bug.in.the.lens

There is no better way to start the new year than with a collection of positive nature news stories! Following a short hiatus due to illness over Christmas, we are ending 2022 and kicking off 2023 on a positive note. From species that that flourished last year to successful rewilding projects, we have got the lot! So, grab a coffee and join us for our first episode of the year.

Contact

Please do feel free to get in touch with us if you have any questions, feedback, comments, or just want to say hi! We'd love to hear what your favourite positive nature news story of 2022 was! The easiest way is to ping us a message on Instagram:

Steve - @a.bird.in.the.lens,

Matthew - @a.bug.in.the.lens

Links

Large blue butterfly numbers soar in Britain | Butterflies | The Guardian

First wild European bison born in the UK for thousands of years | Natural History Museum (nhm.ac.uk)

Ready for takeoff: curlews from eggs rescued at airfields set for release | Birds | The Guardian

Beavers reintroduced to London after 400 years | Natural History Museum (nhm.ac.uk)

This week is all about bogs and the peat that forms them. Despite only covering a small percentage of the world's terrestrial space, saving peatlands is essential for combating climate change. So, grab a coffee and join us as we chat about what makes peat such a valuable environmental resource, how we use it, and what we can all do to save our peatlands.

Contact

Please do feel free to get in touch with us if you have any questions, feedback, comments, or just want to say hi! We'd love to hear how you got into photography and why you love it. The easiest way is to ping us a message on Instagram:

Steve - @a.bird.in.the.lens,

Matthew - @a.bug.in.the.lens

Resources

Peat-free gardening / RHS Gardening

Going peat free | Gardening tips | National Trust

How to go peat free at home | The Wildlife Trusts

Why Use Peat Free Compost? Alternatives to Peat - The RSPB

How did our passion for photography start? Why did one of us end up focusing on birds and the other on bugs? Grab a coffee and join us for a relaxed chat as we answer these questions and more. Learn why we love this hobby, some of the places it has taken us and how this shared passion ties into our love for wildlife, conservation, and the environment.

We hope you enjoy this slightly different kind of episode and come out of it feeling like you know us a little better.

Contact

Please do feel free to get in touch with us if you have any questions, feedback, comments, or just want to say hi! We'd love to hear how you got into photography and why you love it. The easiest way is to ping us a message on Instagram:

Steve - @a.bird.in.the.lens,

Matthew - @a.bug.in.the.lens

The hedgehog, an endearing, instantly recognisable, snuffling ball of spikes. Once a common sight in UK gardens, their populations have declined over the last few decades. But it's not all bad news, whilst some populations continue to struggle, others are stabilising.

So grab a coffee and join us for a little chat about what has caused our hedgehogs to decline, what work is being done to help them, and how we can all make their lives a little easier.

Contact

Please do feel free to get in touch with us if you have any questions, feedback, comments, or just want to say hi! We'd love to hear your recent encounters with hedgehogs or anything you've done to help them. The easiest way is to ping us a message on Instagram:

Steve - @a.bird.in.the.lens,

Matthew - @a.bug.in.the.lens

Links

https://www.hedgehogstreet.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/SoBH-2022-Final.pdf

https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2022/february/britains-rural-hedgehogs-see-dramatic-population-decline.html#:~:text=Analysis%20from%20The%20State%20of,for%20the%20past%20two%20decades.

https://www.hedgehogstreet.org/about-hedgehogs/how-many-hedgehogs-are-left/

https://www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk/

https://www.pricklesandpaws.org/

Will a false widow bite make your arm fall off? Does badger culling stop the spread of TB? Are beavers bad for fish? Grab a cup of coffee and join us as we tackle these questions and more, busting common myths, misinformation, and general media nonsense around our wildlife.

Contact

Please do feel free to get in touch with us if you have any questions, feedback, comments, or just want to say hi! We'd love to hear what common nature misconceptions you've come across. The easiest way is to ping us a message on Instagram:

Steve - @a.bird.in.the.lens

Matthew - @a.bug.in.the.lens

Links

https://www.badgertrust.org.uk/cull#:~:text=The%20robust%2C%20and%20comprehensive%20analyses,on%20reducing%20bTB%20in%20cattle.

https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/news/badger-culling-cant-be-justified-any-grounds

https://beavertrust.org/

https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/how-dangerous-are-false-widow-spiders.html#:~:text=Although%20false%20widows%20do%20have,pain%20of%20a%20wasp%20sting.

Litter is just rubbish! We all know that it looks bad and ends up in our oceans, but how else does it impact our ecosystems and the environment? Grab a coffee and join us as we look into the variety of issues surrounding litter. From threatening some of our smallest mammals to altering the chemistry of our waterways.

But as always, it's not all doom and gloom, we find hope in the brilliant work being done by fantastic individuals/organisations, and even look at how we can all make a difference.

Contact

Please do feel free to get in touch with us if you have any questions, feedback, comments, or just want to say hi! The easiest way is to ping us a message on Instagram:

Steve - @a.bird.in.the.lens

Matthew - @a.bug.in.the.lens

Links:

https://www.keepbritaintidy.org/

https://rubbishwalks.co.uk/

https://planetpatrol.co/

https://www.take3.org/

https://www.instagram.com/cleanourseas/?hl=en-gb

https://nodisposablecup.com/

https://www.unblocktober.org/